In my most recent book, MURDER IN THE MANUSCRIPT ROOM, one of the characters, a librarian, says after discovering she’d been under surveillance in the library and elsewhere, “Everybody’s spying on everybody.”

You’d think no institution in the nation cares much about privacy protections anymore. But you’d be wrong. There’s at least one place in the nation’s cities, towns, and most villages that respects our privacy. Public libraries care passionately about protecting the confidentiality of library users.